Stop Wasting Time And Money

Stop Wasting Time And Money

Getting a manuscript published has never been easier; marketing and selling books has never been harder. Authors who pursue the smallest place for their Independent book on the shelf of a traditional bookseller is wasting valuable time and resources.

The six largest publishers in the world, all based in New York (five owned by foreign corporations), tightly controls the traditional world of retail bookselling. They pay an enormous price for prime retail space for all their titles. Space that is not only cost prohibitive, but space that also carries a huge financial risk for the successful Independent author.

Even if that retail shelf space was within the marketing budget of most Independent publishers or authors, the risk in returned product, shipping and handling charges, advertising allowances, and other assorted fees could bankrupt even the savviest small company.

Marketing is about finding ways to reach your audience with minimal cost and maximum exposure. Finding readers interested in your book is the essence of marketing. Why then would any Independent author concentrate on scratching out even the tiniest of space in the traditional world of bookselling?

The key for the Independent author to reach a global audience is to become a part of a growing movement, developing a community that will provide an online platform to market books and authors. A place where a global audience can easily find books not found in the typical neighborhood bookstore.

The only way to successfully market Independent titles to readers on a global scale is via the Internet with the creation of a single location for these books. The creation of an Independent marketplace on the web would substantially increase the exposure, availability, and eventual sales of these books worldwide.

I'm a 25-year veteran of New York publishing who became tired of the old model for bookselling. I love books, admire writers, and felt there had to be a better way to introduce new writers to readers. My goal is to help create a marketplace for Independent titles. Anyone involved with the Independent author marketplace cannot help but recognize the enormous opportunity for marketing and selling these titles to readers worldwide.

When I began speaking to writing groups and at writing seminars I quickly realized that an opportunity existed for the sale of Independent books. If an online marketplace could be developed that would present those titles and their authors in the right format to readers around the globe, the chances for success would increase substantially. An online platform representing a million Independently published titles would be an enormous advantage for the consumer, not to mention the author and small publisher.

Traditional publishers send authors on book tours to meet their audience and hopefully create a personal connection. Without the benefit of a book tour an Independent author can do the same by utilizing inexpensive audio and video. This would be the single most cost effective way for the Independent author to expand their readership. The technology exists, we just need to take advantage of the opportunities.

Let us join together to change the face of publishing and become a part of the new wave in Independent publishing; we will establish a voice for the Independent author.

BONUS : Storylines Crop Up At The Oddest Moments

There I was on a restful weekend by the sea; enjoying coffee and croissant in a quaint little café at the end of the North Shore pier.

Looking outside through a musty rain smattered window my gaze was attracted to the contours of the magnificent edifice that is Blackpool Tower; drinking in the lines of the intricate steel framework that leads to the observation deck, to the twin platforms one above the other, and all the way up to the crow’s nest.

Arriving at 380 feet there is a breathtaking panoramic view. On a clear day you can see as far as North Wales, the Lake District, the Trough of Bowland and as the sun sets on a cloudless evening, The Isle Of man is visible across the Irish Sea.

1. What if I was a scaffolder, a steeplejack, or a mountaineer?
2. What if I could scale this world famous monument?
3. What if I removed the Union Jack atop the crow’s nest?
4. What if I exchanged it for fluttering skull and crossbones?
5. What if I did it for a bet?
6. What if I used the experience it as a publicity stunt to promote my books?

What if instead I crafted a tale wrapped around my daydreaming?

On the back of a menu I scribbled an outline, stuffed it in my pocket, and forgot about my wild blue meandering until I returned back home.

At three o’clock in the morning I awoke to a torrent of jangled thoughts rushing around in my subconscious; unconnected thoughts that gradually joined together to form the nucleus of my tale.

Three hours later I had completed the first four chapters; a few days later I had my first draft, and by the end of the week a final manuscript that was good enough for submission.

Then I broke my own golden rule of a lifetime: never submit to more than one publisher.

I sent my mss off to three sources and several weeks later received by telephone an offer of publication subject to contract.

And so my comedic novella “The Blackpool Tower Caper” is to be published by a leading fiction house and is scheduled for the bookshelves in the spring of 2007.

The moral to this article; storylines crop up at the oddest moments so when yours arrives, and no matter how inane you consider it at the time, grab it, nurture it, treasure it, develop it without delay - or it will be lost and gone forever – and with it a golden opportunity for publication.

Jim Green is a bestselling author with an ever-growing string of fiction and niche non-fiction titles to his credit. His offers a course of instruction for download at
http://1st-creative-writing-course.com